Punishment
by GremlinX
Summary: Briar gets into trouble and Niko has to decide what to do. Set around the first year the four live at Discipline. Please feel free to R&R!


**This a random one-shot that I came up with and thought I would share. I would love to hear your thoughts on this. The good and the bad. I hope you leave a response. :) It is about Niko and Briar with some others mixed in. Tell me what you think and thanks for reading! Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters. **  
**GremlinX**

Niko was angry. To say angry would be an understatement, he was more on the borderline of furious. He usually always tried to keep his cool, but he was finding his patience being tried more and more these days. It was bad enough he was on lack of sleep due to scrying into the future to see if any more disasters would be coming to Emelan, not only that but the constant chatter from dedicates pestering him about issues, but now to top it off one of the four children at Discipline was being more troublesome than usual. His hand was currently holding an angry child back to the cottage. Niko ignored the protests and kept his prisoner in a vice-like grip, making the captive be half pulled, half dragged back at a brisk pace.

When they got to the gate he let go of the arm and finally looked at who he had lugged to there. Briar was rubbing his arm trying to get the blood flow back into it and had a scowl on his face. Accompanying that was a light bruise starting to form on his right eye, a minor cut on his left cheek and a minor cut by the left corner of his mouth. Niko returned the glare with one of his own and opened the gate door and motioned for the boy to walk ahead of him. Briar looked like he was going to hesitate, but reluctantly walked forward and entered the small building before Niko. There was no large, growing mass of a dog that greeted them inside the fence. Little Bear and the girls were with Lark in Summersea shopping for the day. Briar had been there as well, but later got himself into some trouble with Niko there to witness the end of the fiasco.

Once inside Briar tried to make a beeline to his room in order to escape the furious man who was boring a hole into the back of his head. He only made a few steps before the ever strong grip was back, this time Niko had a hold of his shoulder and made him stop short.

"You aren't going anywhere unless I tell you to do otherwise. You will sit on the bench and wait for me to come back," Niko ordered. He led Briar to the bench and made sure the boy was sitting down and looking at him before he continued to seethe. "If you so much as move an inch away from this table while I am gone for a few minutes, I will see to it to give you whatever punishment I see fit." With one last stern gaze at the boy who was currently defiantly glaring silently at the table, he headed to Rosethorn's garden. The person in question was currently weeding one of the spots of her garden, wide brim hat on and habit pinned up above her knees so it wouldn't get so dirty.

"What do you want?" She asked without turning around. Niko stood on the path making sure not to step near any plants. Crossing his arms he answered with one word, "Briar."

At his word Rosethorn turned around to look at him, suspicion and confusion in her eyes. Upon seeing Niko's face her eyebrows knitted together. She placed the weed she had pulled back on the ground and got up at once.

"What did that boy do this time? I want an explanation while I wash up quick." She replied curtly. Niko followed her to the well and began to explain.

"That _boy_ as you say was in a fight, the second one in about three weeks if I am correct. Except this time it was an even bigger deal than the first one. Briar had some knives on him this time. Granted he didn't use them on anyone because by the time the fight was in that stage I was there to break it up." He listed off.

"What was the reasoning?" She asked as she took the hat off and undid the pins holding up her green habit. Niko almost thought the vein bulging slightly on his forehead was going to bulge, but he took a deep breath and released most of the anger he had built up.

"Does the reasoning matter? End result he had knives on him Rosethorn. I thought he had given them all to me months ago. Something needs to be done and it doesn't seem like anything I say changes his behavior. If this keeps up people will want to cast him out of Winding Circle all together." He stated calmly with a hard edge lacing his voice. Rosethorn scowled at his words.

"You don't think I don't know that? I know what others think and say about him, especially when he was first brought here. Where is he? We are wasting time out here."

"I left him at the table and if he knew what was good for him, this time he hopefully listened and stayed there." She motioned for him to go first and followed behind him back into the main room. Sure enough Briar was still sitting on the bench, but had his arms crossed and was still glaring silently at the table. Niko and Rosethorn sat down across from him. Rosethorn fixed a steady gaze on him; one she knew once he looked up would make him want to cower away. She was having a good day in peace before this incident happened.

"Briar, look up at me and tell me what caused the fight." She ordered in a steel-like voice. The boy hesitated, but hearing the warning in her voice looked up. He mumbled some words quietly and looked away trying to escape her fierce gaze and Niko's.

"What was that? How about you repeat what you said and say it louder." Niko interjected. Briar gave a small sigh and reluctantly answered.

"I said it prolly don't matter what started it anyways." He didn't look over at them despite answering clearly. Rosethorn's eyebrows shot up and was about to say something, but Niko raised a hand and started his interrogation.

"Well it makes the difference to me, the question is did you start it or not?"

"No."

"Is there a reason why you engaged in fighting back?"

"Yes."

"Care to elaborate?"

"No."

"Briar," Rosethorn interjected angrily. He looked up at her saying his name and seemed to wither slightly at the glare he was receiving from her. She tapped the table with a finger and knew what she meant by the stance. _Out with it and if you keep being a pain right now I will have you experiencing the hardest work ever for the next month, _ she seemed to say. Briar looked at Niko with a trace of anger in his eyes.

"The bag boys were picking on a street rat like me who I was talking to. He had his lackies start pushin' the kid around and we ended up in a tumble. Eventually it got to be more rough, but we were doin' fine. Then you showed up." He summarized quickly.

"I want them." Niko stated calmly hand out stretched.

"Want what?" Briar asked trying to act innocent. Rosethorn stood up and walked over to him. Briar got up to back away from her knowing she was about to twist his ear in order for him to give up the objects in question. She was not going to have him play these games with them.

"Sit down." Niko ordered Briar and again motioned for the knives to be handed over. Briar did neither and made sure he was still a safe distance away from his teacher before arguing.

"I need-"

"_Knives?_"

"If I hadn't had-"

"_Knives?"_

"I didn't-"

"I know you didn't but the fact still remains that despite the noble cause for being in the fight you stil had them on you."

Briar opened his mouth to argue more, but closed it running out of things to say back.

"I will only ask this one more time. I want you to give them to me." Briar's shoulders slouched in defeat and he started to put them on the table. Rosethorn waited until he set all the ones he had on him before walking with him to make sure he grabbed any he had stashed in his room to give to Niko as well. Niko moved the pile over to himself and shook his head in disappointment over the small pile of four knives. Two more were in his room that Rosethorn made sure he brought back to the table to add to the pile. Once he was sitting down again on the bench with Rosethorn this time holding him in place by keeping a steady hold of both of his shoulders, Niko started the lecture.

"I don't care how this fight started the fact is you still got into a fight. You just got done with your punishment for being in the last one not even five days ago. Since you obviously have not learned how to walk away from any fight you will be confined to the cottage until I see fit. You will not go anywhere without Rosethorn's permission and if you have to leave it has to be a good enough reason or else she won't let you go. I do not want you to be anywhere near knives. If I so much as hear you looked at one you will be in even more trouble. You don't live out in the streets anymore Briar and you need to start acting like you don't. You will do whatever task Rosethorn has you do without complaint. These 'bags' as you call them around here are looking for any reason to want to say having you and the others here as a bad idea. We are lucky that I was able to convince them that this is a better way of dealing with this situation. Stay out of trouble for four weeks and I might, might consider in lessoning your restrictions." By the end of his speech Briar's eyes had gotten bigger at each word and his mouth was hanging open. He was going to start to protest, but a quick squeeze from Rosethorn's strong hands effectively stopped all thoughts as he winced at the sharp pain. Niko nodded at Rosethorn and got up to head out, leaving the young charge to face the wrath of Rosethorn now.

* * *

After watching him leave she turned her charge around in his seat to look at her. She could tell Briar was angry at what his punishment was, but cared more about seeing how bad he was scraped up and dirty right then. It didn't help that Briar was being so fidgety under her scrutinizing gaze.

"Hold still boy." She told him with her finger under his chin making him stop moving to look at her face. He froze and stopped moving as she inspected the cuts and bruise on his face. Deciding that a quick salve she had would fix him up she decided to first fix him up and then get down to business. She let go of his chin and crooked her finger at him to follow her to his room. "Grab yourself your washcloths so you and I can head to the bathhouses and get cleaned up. I'm sweaty from my garden and you smell like you rolled in the street." He grabbed his stuff quickly making sure not to give her any reason to be any more upset at him than she already was. Shifting uncomfortably he waited for her to grab her things and they headed out.

Not more than an hour or so later they were back at the cottage, still alone and were in Rosethorn's workshop. Briar was sitting on the counter as she applied her salve to his cuts and bruise. While he was squirming under her touch as she applied it to his light injuries making him wince at the sting, she decided this was the best time to voice her own opinions on the matter.

"Briar I understand that the reason behind what you did was right, but you can't fight everything. Sometimes you need to use more than your instincts. You need to use your brain sometimes," emphasizing the point by poking him on the forehead. He lightly smirked at her gesture which she caught him doing. "Don't be getting too relaxed mister. I'm still not happy that I have to babysit you for the next month. Just because you had nothing better to do, doesn't mean the rest of us didn't. You know what I expect out of you."

"No funny business and if I do anything you don't like you will hang me in the well." He answered. It was a well-used threat. She stowed the salve away back in its drawer and crossed her arms and raised her eyebrow at his remark. Briar raised his hands in surrender and she rolled her eyes at his gesture.

"If you think Niko is the person you should be worried about pleasing you are in for a world of hurt boy. I'm the one you have to deal with for a while four weeks."

"Does that mean my punishment starts tomorrow or today?" He asked. The hub chose to strike the bell for midday. An evil smile formed on her face and she saw the worry etched into her boy's face at her look.

"Time starts now. Start making us both lunch to eat. Get out some light stuff to eat."

"But Rosethorn, there's only a half day left" He whined. She pointed her finger at the door in answer. He jumped off the counter and stalked out of the room in a huff.

"No whining from you my lad. You have 28 days of this, so consider this a favor. Now you only have 27 and a half left starting tomorrow morning. I also want you to take out some milk from the cold box. We are drinking that for lunch today." She called out of her workshop as he dug around in the main room for some food.

"Are you trying to torture me woman!" He replied loudly.

"Get used to it my young buck." Rosethorn replied easily. She ignored his grumblings as he set the table. This was going to be a fun couple of weeks.

* * *

Four weeks later at midday came the moment of truth. Would Briar be able to be free of his punishment or would he have to suffer a few more days. The day was nice out and they had all finished cleaning up the table from lunch. The girls promptly went outside seeing how it was the designated free time. Little Bear barked and ran after them as they gave Briar a small wave as they left to go to the wall. Lark was in the corner of the room mending shirts and Rosethorn and Niko were at the table. They had sent Briar to wait in his room, while they discussed quietly about the last four weeks. No matter how much he strained to listen at his closed door he couldn't make out what they were saying. He scowled when it occurred to him they were doing it on purpose. Luckily he wasn't in the dark for too long and was called back into the room.

"Well Briar we have come to a decision and hopefully you understand that your past behavior is not tolerated-" Niko stated but Rosethorn cut him off with a raise of her hand.

"What he is trying to say is you are off the hook. You are free once again, but you still have to do your normal chores and tasks. Just make sure to stay out of trouble. I don't want to waste another four weeks doing this." She stated calmly. Briar's face spread into a big grin and his eyes lit up at what she said. He rushed over to her and hugged her quickly in joy.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" He practically shouted in glee and appreciation. Rosethorn was shocked by the gesture from him, but returned it. Briar ran out of the cottage in order to catch up with the girls, most likely telling them through their link that he was free.

"Stick with the girls and make sure you guys don't run off!" She called after him and she saw him wave a hand in the air knowing signaling he heard her before dashing off. Niko looked at her sullenly.

"Oh perk up. You still got to maintain your steely image of being the tough guy around here. Now if you excuse me I'm going to enjoy a day without him under my feet." She promptly walked away and headed to her garden leaving Lark to give Niko a comforting smile, laughter in her eyes.

"Why do I always have to seem like the bad guy? You think he would be upset with her, she was the one in charge of him this whole time." He stated to Lark, defending himself.

**A/N: Hope you liked it and please R&R! **


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